Expeditions in collaboration with Turkish scientists were
undertaken in 1985 and 1989 to collect wild and indigenous forms of food legumes
in Turkey. Major production areas for food legumes were explored in 1985 and
mostly cultivated landraces of lentil end chickpea were collected. A major part
of the 1985 trip was concentrated in the southeastern production area along the
Euphrates River. That area is now in the process of being flooded upon
completion of a series of dams on the river. As a result, production areas and
villages are in the process of being relocated. Because of these changes, it was
considered of primary importance that the landraces and wild species of that
area be collected and preserved. Themajor objective of the 1989 trip was
to collect wild species of Pisum, Lens, and Cicer.

While the 1985 trip to southeastern Turkey concentrated on
collection of landraces, the 1989 trip concentrated on collection of wild
species of Lens, Cicer and Pisum in mostly uncropped, dry
and rocky habitats and adjacent small cultivated fields. The combined route
taken by the collection team in 1985 and 1989 is shown in Fig. 1. The major part
of the 1989 trip was centered in the provinces of Diyarbakir, Mardin and Siirt
in the southeastern part of the country.

Both the 1985 and 1989 seasons were extremely dry in Turkey,
a situation that made it difficult to find and collect wild species. Germination
of seeds of wild species was reduced and the size of the wild plants was quite
small. Also, heavy grazing by sheep and goats added to the difficulties in
finding wild material. Collection of the cultivated landraces was not affected
by the dry conditions. Nearly all of the Pisum collections made were
P.sativum ssp elatius in 1985, while most of the collections
made in 1989 were P.sativum ssp humile (Table 1) .

The wild pea collections were made mostly in fields that were
planted to either lentil or chickpea. In those fields, wild pea was a weedy
contaminant and they were generally mature and often had dehisced their seeds.
Other areas where wild pea was found included the rocky borders of cultivated
fields and rocky, noncropped areas. The noncropped areas were generally
overgrazed, but often wild material could be found in niches where grazing by
animals was difficult, e.g. areas with numerous large rocks and under brushy
perennials.

The material is currently being increased and will be added
to the National Plant Germplasm Systems Pisum collection maintained at
the Regional Plant Introduction Station at Geneva, New York. We plan to evaluate
the material for possible use as parents in the dry pea breeding program.
According to N.F. Weeden (personal communication), additional accessions from
Turkey have consistently yielded previously unavailable isozyme polymorphisms
indicating that additional genetic variation can still be found there. We plan
to survey the material for previously unavailable isozyme polymorphisms, and to
evaluate the material for resistance to disease prevalent in our area including
root rot, wilt, powdery mildew and certain viruses. Small samples of the
material collected will be available on request after seed increase.

Table 1. Accessions of wild and cultivated Pisum
collected in Turkey in 1985 and 1989

Field collection number

Species

Wild/ Cult.

Elevation

Province where collected

1985:

290685-01

P.sativum
ssp. elatius

wild

430 m

Denizli

270685-0105

P.sativum
ssp. elatius

wild

790 m

Mersin

010785-01

P.sativum
ssp. humile

wild

800 m

Gaziantys

240785-13

P.sativum ssp. elatius

wild

930 m

Denizli

230785-07

P.sativum ssp. elatius

wild

1100 m

Afyon

190785-0105

P.sativum ssp. elatius

wild

750 m

Tokat

Qf0785-03

P.sativum
ssp. humile

wild

1250 m

Diyarbakir

050785-0109

P.sativum
ssp. elatius

wild

380 m

lldiyaman

190785-02

P.sativum
ssp. arvense

cult.

900 m

Tokat

040785-0302

P.sativum
ssp. arvense

cult.

540 m

Urfa

1989:

010689-0201

P.sativum
ssp. elatius

wild

1270 m

Elazig

050689-0302

P.sativum ssp. humile

wild

1050 m

Mardin

060689-0107

P.sativum ssp. humile

wild

1060 m

Mardin

070689-0202

P.sativum ssp. humile

wild

770 m

Mardin

080689-0403

P.sativum ssp. humile

wild

1050 m

Mardin

11068S-0105

P.sativum ssp. humile

wild

1100 m

Siirt

110689-0302

P.sativum ssp. humile

wild

1040 m

Siirt

120689-0202

P.sativum ssp. humile

wild

630 m

Siirt

140689-0102

P.sativum ssp. humile

wild

920 m

Diyarbakir

Fig. 1. Route taken by the collection team in Turkey (1985
and 1989 routes combined).